Pentagon Memo: Please Leave Unapproved Bombs at Home

An aerial view of the Pentagon as seen Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005, over Arlington, Va.

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon has a message for its 24,000 employees who work in the massive building: Please don’t bring your unapproved bombs to work.

In an e-mail to Defense Department workers, the Pentagon’s top security officer is reminding people that they aren’t allowed to bring bombs to work – even if they don’t work anymore – without prior permission.

Bringing a bomb to work might seem like a no-brainer. But this is the Pentagon facility, after all, home of the nation’s top anti-roadside bomb experts, so it’s not uncommon for people to have a few so-called IEDs – Improvised Explosive Devices — lying around.

The issue came up late last month when a Navy civilian tried to bring an inoperable bomb to work. He was bringing it to the Pentagon for a briefing to senior Navy officials, but he forgot to inform building security, said Shannon Giles, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon Force Protection Agency.

“That was a first,” she said. “I’ve never heard of someone bringing an IED before.”

In classically bureaucratic language, Steven Calvery, director of the Pentagon security agency, advised people that they needed written permission to bring such things into the building.

“It would be helpful if you could ensure your components are familiar with the authorization process outlined in Administrative Instruction 30 for bringing inoperable firearms or inert ordnances into the Pentagon for official business,” he wrote in the Nov. 22 e-mail. “These require written approval from PFPA.”

The Pentagon began beefing up security in September after a military contractor brought a shotgun onto the Washington Navy Yard where he was working and killed 12 people before being shot dead by security.

The shooting exposed concerning gaps in security at military facilities that allowed the shooter, Aaron Alexis, to easily bring a shotgun onto the Navy Yard. The Pentagon also allows its workers relatively unfettered access to the building. Pentagon workers can routinely get into the building without passing through metal detectors.

Bombs aren’t the only thing security officials have found since they began beefing up security.

In the last few weeks, Mr. Calvery wrote, security officials conducting x-ray screenings at the Pentagon Metro station have confiscated 21 knives, seven pepper spray canisters, five shotgun shells and one expandable baton.

Late last month, the Pentagon set up surprise screenings inside its facility that led to the arrest of on Army civilian carrying illegal drugs, Ms. Giles said. Security also barred four workers from entering the Pentagon with banned knives, pepper spray and drug paraphernalia.

The Army said it couldn’t comment on any open investigation but would cooperate with any case as needed.

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